Random SSCX

Yesterday morning, the trails were wet and the weather was nice, so I felt the need to complete a “long run” in preparation for the next weekend’s adventure race. I figured I’d stick to the 6 mile Tour de Wolf trail near my house since it’s got a good bit of root/roll to it. Since I started on this run buildup, I’ve made it a point to always run with some sort of impetus rather than just plodding along. It seems to have worked, because, though I doubled my past mileage in yesterday’s run, I kept with a solid sub-9min/mile pace. Kinda slow, but, not knowing how I’d feel the second half of the run, I started slow and ramped up until the last mile was at a sub-8 pace. (Side effect- Strava poaching!) I was comfortable the entire time (although, this morning, my body seems kinda pissed at the jump from 3 to 6 miles), so I’m feeling good about however much I’m going to need to run next weekend.

After my run, Matt and I went out for a short stint of trailwork on the Wolf River Trail. We didn’t get into hours of digging and hole-fixing like last time. Instead, we cleared vines and branches from tall cyclist/horseback rider headspace. We also saw a bunch of people going to ride the trails, which we’d both avoided riding since they were too wet. “Too wet” is a bit of a subjective definition, of course. However, now that I’ve put hours into moving dirt to fill spots that are eroded because of people riding them when they’re wet, I can tell you that riding on days like yesterday- when 75% of the trail is dry, but the other 25% is water/mudholes- is what causes the holes that Matt and I (and others in the community) are trying to fix.

I digress.

This morning, I was trying to decide what I’d do today, when someone on Facebook posted a link to the Keep Calm and Race Cross flyer. I immediately noticed the placement of the Singlespeed CX race a nice bit after the Women’s Elite race. I ran through the houshold spare parts list in my head, and came up with this idea:

out

in

There’s something oddly satisfying about putting a handful of high-end components on a nice, budget-oriented steel frame. I’m going to go ride it now and make sure that the rear wheel doesn’t slip. It may end up needing a tensioner, but for now, I’ve got the dura-ace skewer as tight as I’m able to make it.

Parts rundown:
Surly Crosscheck frame/fork
Dura-ace C24 Tubeless wheels
Hutchinson Bulldog Tubeless tires
SRAM Red Crank w/FSA 39t chainring
KMC 10spd Chain
XTR Pedals
Tektro Mini-v brakes
Tektro Levers
Salsa Cowbell bar
Thomson X2 Stem
FSA SLK Carbon Post
Fizik Saddle & Bar tape

Labor Day Trail Work

Last summer, my favorite recovery ride was to leave my house, ride to the Wolf River Trails (about 15 minutes away), and take the Blue trail to the Greenline, turn off, and ride back home through the north side of Shelby Farms. The blue trail was a lot of fun, especially one section that people seemed to avoid because there is a more “popular” bypass on the nearby, parallel white trail. Unfortunately, over the winter, people destroyed the blue trail by riding it when it was wet. Not like, “I’m leaving huge ruts down the trail” wet, but, “it’s dry except for the mudholes” wet (it’s prettymuch how all of the trails around here meet their winter demise since our soil doesn’t drain well). It essentially expanded all of the mudholes until they reached a natural barrier of some sort- making several of them nearly 10 feet wide. At best, you could ride one dry, choppy line around the outside of the hole, and, at worst, there are spots on the trail that are unrideable unless you go through a large hole filled with stagnant muck.

A couple of weeks ago, Poolboy Matt took it upon himself to go out with a shovel and start filling in some of the smaller holes. He spent about 3 hours working on about a mile long section of trail, and, with just a shovel and a lot of sweat, rehabbed the small piece of trail back to its former glory.

So, on Labor day, instead of a recovery ride following Hard Nox, he and I set out with shovels, a handsaw, and a rake. We spent about 2.5 hours in the morning and 2.5 hours after lunch, adding more dirt to some spots he’d already started on and starting new on a few more spots. Since a lot of the spots had multiple lines through/around them, we took to closing them back in and creating one line through the wide spot (making the singletrack single again). Also, since parts of the trails are popular for horseback riding, we cleared some privet and dead branches from rider height in order to make the lines we created accessible to all trail users.

 

I did before and after photos on a couple of spots:

This hole had expanded to the tree on the right of the photo and the brush pile on the left. Trail users started going around the tree, but at that section of trail, the line around the tree is much slower, and the “high” side of the trail is actually the line on the left (it’s been very dry here the last couple of weeks, so the hole is a lot drier than “normal,” which allows people to go on either side of the trail, further reinforcing the widening of that spot)

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We “outlined” the fill area with branches and moved dirt (from well off the trail) into the low spot. Matt trimmed back privet to improve the line of sight and we used the branches to close off the right side to allow it to be reclaimed by the woods. This being one of the popular horse riding sections of trail, we also took care to clean out the headspace approaching the new, filled in line (look in the background of the before shot @the large deadfall caught up in vines and privet)

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Another spot…

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…same strategy

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We’re essentially using large, sturdy deadfall to outline a path through the wide/low spot and filling one side in with dirt. It creates a small “bench” trail around one side of the mudhole. We realize those spots won’t be maintenance-free, especially as the dirt is moved around and packed in, and, in the long term, as there are heavy rains, people who ride the trail when they shouldn’t, and as the branches that we’ve used to border the spots start to decompose.

However, I think it’s a good start.

Road Trip: #2

Sunday morning, I planned out a nice-sized ride from the hostel. The main goal was to ride ~10miles of the Rainbow Trail and then a lower-elevation, shorter trail called Little Rainbow back towards town. First, I walked to a local place for breakfast.

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Yard art from the trip:

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The route (ridden clockwise):

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I rode the singlespeed, and the 32×21 was great until the very top of the initial climb up Bear Creek Rd, where I started to feel low on oxygen and had to hike a little. The first 6 miles or so were gorgeous and flowy bench-cut singletrack with occasional open overlooks before intersecting another forest road at a trailhead:

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At that point, the trail jogged down the road a little (you can see on my route where there’s an “up” in the blue line where I thought incorrectly that maybe it jogged uphill). The next 3-4 miles of trail were much steeper and gravelly. I did a little more hike-a-bike before getting to the next intersection where I’d turn off to go to the Lower Rainbow trails:

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After a slightly hairy jeep road descent, I found the trail intersection and started down the next portion of trail. The lower rainbow was super flowy and nice as well. My only interruption was a heard of elk that exploded up the side of the mountain as I rounded a corner. As the retreated, they kicked rocks at me. No photos of the elk, but I got one of the “elk were here” sign:

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The rest of the trail was great, and, being mostly downhill, went by almost too quickly. Once I’d descended back into Salida, I stopped at the SubCulture bike shop to talk to the mechanic who’d given me some trail advice when I’d stopped by before. Over the past few rides, I’d determined that I didn’t want to keep the Niner Low-Top bars at their full 720mm width. Since I didn’t bring a saw guide and saw with me, I asked him to cut them down just a little (they’re about 705mm wide now). He did the most perfect on-bike cutting job I’ve seen, ever.

When I asked how much I owed him, he kinda shrugged his shoulders, so I told him I’d bring beer back after I cleaned up and got out to find lunch. Just my luck- the owner of the food truck parked next to the shop was in the store, and he’d mentioned some sort of amazing concoction of a chicken tamale, fried egg, and turkey chili (the mechanic, Raphael, said that the food was amazing, and that the guy fed the shop every day). Perfect timing, because about the time I was back with a 12-er of PBR (yes, even in the land of incredible microbrews, mechanics request PBR), I was hungry enough to gnaw my bars shorter.

And, the food was incredibly amazing, and perfectly satisfying for post-ride hunger:

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Raphael and his dog (not pictured- his girlfriend, Claire, also a singlespeeder. She was closing up shop and came over to give him ribbing about it later):

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Random photo: desert was overpriced single-serve Haagen Dazs ice cream- For those of us with no self-control when it comes to ice-cream portion control…

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The next morning, I went and flat wore myself out on the city pump track. It’s likely the best-built one I’ve ever ridden. If you go to Salida, definitely don’t skip it.

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Once I was tired and sweaty, I headed back to pack up and get moving to Dolores. The verdict on Salida? I’ll definitely be back. I only scratched the surface of riding there, so I will have to visit again in the future (of great interest- an 80something mile trail ride that includes riding to the Monarch Crest trail on 4th of July).

 

 

 

 

Mountain Stuff

Like I promised, I made my decision as to whether or not I’d go to XC Nationals based on my feelings in the drive home from Marathon Nationals. I’m 100% not feeling it. I want to focus my efforts on tuning back up for Breck Epic, which starts August 11th. After a little post-Natz break, I got back into some intervals today, and, even though they weren’t my best, they were promising, and it felt good to be getting back into a training groove after all the tapering/traveling associated with going to Idaho.

In random “badasses of Memphis” news, Billy Simpson, a local ultramarathon runner, finished the Hardrock 100 over the weekend – 18th place with a time of 33 hours, 14 minutes, and 47 seconds. As an occasionally vocal trail advocate, Billy has had his disagreements with the local 2-wheeled community in the past (some of which I’m more on his side than on others’), but, in the end, we’re all just looking for the next adventure. So, to Billy…

I can barely contain my Breck Epic excitement. To add to it, I’m leaving a week early and staying with another (formerly) local badass, Lauren Hall. I’m going to hide out in her basement and ride trails in her little corner of Colorado while I get through my initial throes of altitude adjustment. I always have a bad day about 2-3 days after getting up high before leveling off to just “more out of breath than usual,” so 5 or 6 days at 7,000ft should get me through that in preparation for Breck.

Motivation for things like Breck Epic is essentially what’s getting me through some of my rides right now. I’m still scared of being hit by a car on a regular basis… a fear reinforced by what seems like a rise in frequency of drivers being incredibly careless, reckless, and/or flat-out mean. I’ve been able to get it down to about 1 during-ride anxiety attack per week. Though I occasionally find myself feeling like I want to collapse in on myself like a black hole, it’s a combination of both my desire to be excellent and of sheer stubbornness that I won’t quit training on the road.

Can't Stop

Marathon Natz Road Trip Part 1

As I travel more and more, I realize why Dicky says goodbye to his blog during his trips to wherever it is Dicky goes. Even though I have at least a couple of times a day when I could probably write something, the motivation factor is pretty low. However, this morning, I’m trying to kill as much time as possible in Twin Falls (at 3700 ft of elevation) before going up to the Ketchum/Sun Valley area (5800ft).  So, I figured I might as well start to fill in on what it is I’ve been doing since Monday.

Monday was relatively boring. I drove the 10.5 hours to Hays, KS to get the first chunk of movement out of the way. Trip fueled by Three 6 Mafia Radio on Pandora…

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Tuesday, I got up and continued west to Fort Collins, where I met up with my coach for the last few years, Andy Clark. We actually hadn’t interacted in person since I’d first met him at the Winter Park Super D on my first trip to Colorado back in 2010.

We went out for a great ride that included a stop by 1 of 2  pump tracks in Ft. Collins.

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Fort Collins is someplace I’d love to spend more time. The city has embraced not only bike racing, but also bicycles as a mode of transportation for everyone- there are bike paths and bike lanes everywhere as well as (well-used) bike racks (and occasionally scooter parking places) in front of every business. Also, not only is Andy super-dad to his kid, he’s got a really adorable dog, too.

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Wednesday morning, I headed out towards Twin Falls, ID. I was on track to get there around 4:30 in the afternoon, but realized about 45 minutes from town that I’d left my cycling shoes in Andy’s garage. Needless to say, I didn’t get to Twin Falls until after 6. Between this trip and the one to Victor last year, I’ve realized that in mid-summer, Idaho is really hot, dry, and usually on fire.

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(the fields are all well-irrigated, though)

Once I arrived in Twin Falls, I took a couple of quick photos of the canyon before checking in to the hotel and going out for a ride.

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I’d noticed from the tourist-info overlook that there was what looked like a trailhead and singletrack that went from the road halfway into the canyon down to the river level (you can actually see it in the bridge photo above). I could see the trail from the trailhead then at the bottom of the canyon, but couldn’t see what was in the middle. I realized about 3 gnarly, near-vertical rock sections and one steep, narrow staircase into a hike-a-bike that, while there was not a “no bikes” sign at the trailhead, it was not a bike trail.

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(the stairs were actually the easiest part)

After hefting my bike back out of the trail, I cruised down the road to the park at the bottom of the canyon.

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As beautiful as it is, the entire area smells like sewage because of a water treatment plant that’s down there. It’s like a bathroom with sage-scented air freshener.

Thursday, I’d had all intentions of driving up to Sun Valley and pre-riding the Nationals course loop. However, one thing I’d failed to consider when I’d made my plan was that, by that time, I’d be absolutely exhausted of driving. So, instead, I went to a local breakfast place called Norm’s. I got crazy looks from the farmer clientele that filled most of the seats, but, as I realized back in Fort Collins, when I don’t get weird looks and I “fit” in with the normal crowd, I feel really awkward.

I stalked Strava and found some local trails called Auger Falls. Unfortunately, when I got down into the canyon (and past the water treatment plant), I found this:

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I climbed back out and crossed the bridge to see what was over there. I found some powdery moto trails and some very nice scenery

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After my ride, I had lunch and lounged around the hotel before picking up dinner and riding over to Cold Stone for desert before watching the city fireworks display from the hotel parking lot.

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So far, so good. Check out time isn’t until noon, so I’m gonna get a late breakfast as soon as this Tour stage is over. Without spoiling it, I’d say this is, tactically speaking, my favorite stage so far.

Recovery Week

The thing about a recovery week is that there’s not always a lot to blog about. Unlike Dicky, I made audio race reports while I was out at TSE, so I didn’t have to remember the fine details of each stage so that I might blog about them once I was home. I did have a few nice recovery rides which allowed me to get cool photos like this:

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I’ve also been gathering the necessary parts needed to re-assemble the Jet9 with some nice upgrades. I know I’ve said in the past that I wouldn’t get XX1 until the cassette options improved, but I realized at TSE that if I’m only going to ride it on the trail (vs. doing some road & trail training like I do on the Air9 RDO), the current offering should suit my needs. So, all I lack now is the XX1 driver for my wheelsets. Re-assembly starts today…

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Over the weekend, I made an impromptu trip to the Syllamo Trails for a last bit of relaxation before getting back into my normal training schedule. I wasn’t sure how the trails would be since they tend to get grown over this time of year, so I stuck to the orange and blue since they tend to be the shadiest parts of the system. Matt came along. He went Strava-poaching on the road while I was in the woods. It just so happened that I caught up to him on my way back to the cabin:

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Before that, I realized something really cool while I was on the blue trail-
A couple of years ago, a group of people (I have no idea who- all I know is that it was some sort of large, organized effort) went through one of the most notoriously technical and hike-a-bikey sections of the blue trail (the couple of miles on the “other” side of highway 5, for those of you familiar with the area), and made a bunch of smooth, easier re-routes to large sections of the trail, as well as removing all rocks and obstacles from the path. The trail resembled a nerf football in the coming winter (not that didn’t remain a very difficult ride- there’s a b*tch of a steep climb out there, and lots of super steep stuff that’s barely rideable even to someone who is very good at riding super loose/steep stuff).
Despite someone’s best laid plans to make the trail more accessible to more people, through the process of wind, weather, and mischievous Indian ghosts, the Proterozoic mountain is growing out from under the dirt, and the trail is once again becoming a rocky limestone beast. The trail still seems to be growing and changing all over, which makes it a slightly different challenge every time I make the trip out.

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After riding and dinner, I decided on a spontaneous fishing trip down to the boat ramp on the White River. I didn’t catch anything, but the water felt nice.

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Sunday, in lieu of riding, we went out to explore the southern end of the Sylamore Creek hiking trail. It’s closed to bikes, and, in the words of one of the older MTB guys here in town when someone was talking about poaching it… “Good luck with that”

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Yes, Poolboy Matt was wearing short jorts, which he rolled up to “daisy duke” length at some point while fording the creek to get to the trail.

On the trip back, we discussed the gaping holes in my riding abilities. Namely, my inability to get a bike off the ground without the aid of clipless pedals. Matt decided I should learn on his BMX bike. So, last night, I donned the shin guards and launched off of a sweet ramp into the yard. It was pretty bad… but you gotta start somewhere.

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My week of TSE reflection has drawn to a close. I promise I’ll stop talking about it, though, I have come away with one realization. I learned somewhere around stage 5 that my body was reacting to the repeated efforts with deep-seated exhaustion. However, if you were following Twitter during stage 6, you would have seen this progression:

Amanda Carey, Sue Haywood, and Andrea Wilson are wheel-to-wheel!

Women’s leader Carey is sitting on second place overall and current Bear Creek SRAM Enduro jersey wearer Wilson.

After a detour in yesterday’s stage by the entire NoTubes team Wilson is pushing the pace to try to solidify her position.

Carey and Haywood have opened a gap on Wilson

Sarah Kaufman next through. Taking time back from Wilson too.

I essentially went out kinda hard, knowing that there was about a 5% chance of success, and was eventually caught off guard by the sudden tech of the initial singletrack, resulting in my wrecking and going backwards through the field, followed closely by my body calling it quits for the week- 1.5 hours in to nearly 4 hours of riding with one more defensively hard stage looming the next day. I knew, in the first hour of “pushing the pace” that I was being a little reckless with my energy. I didn’t care. I didn’t like dying off half an hour later, but the awesome feeling of the first hour made the entire week worthwhile. The “not dying” part will come with more fitness and experience. I keep getting this movie scene in my head when I think about it…

I mean, I don’t really have any ominous messages to send, other than, “I’m not afraid to see what will happen if I burn my legs up climbing this hill.”

 

Syllamo’s Revenge Race Report

I’m just going to get my mostly crappy race report out of the way before I talk Infamy.

I felt awesome, had a great start, and was totally rocking the lead. I had a rear flat super early, but didn’t sweat it too hard since it was 15 minutes in to a 5-6 hour day. However, getting back into a race on a narrow, technical bench trail is super hard and ends up being physically and mentally exhausting because you have to yell and beg and punch your way around a couple of hundred people in conga-line groups of 3-10 at a time. I’d worked my way through about 3/4 (I think) of the field and was settling back in to a good rhythm when I flatted my front tire and ended up at the back of the pack again. I fixed it and bailed at the next trailhead, making  the decision to cut my losses based on the proximity of TSE and how hard I would have chased & destroyed myself trying to get back to a podium spot. Additionally, having a bunch of air in my front tire was super sketchy because the rocks & roots were already wet & muddy, which makes them a type of slick that you just have to experience to really appreciate.
I hate quitting a race more than almost everything, but my legs feel great (for you wattage nerds out there, I averaged 301 watts for 8 minutes going up the first climb, and wasn’t blown up at the top), and I didn’t want to screw it up by turning myself inside out or having a dumb wreck.

Still, the feeling of a DNF decision is on my top 5 list of things I hate, just under “death or illness of a loved one” and “getting attacked by a swarm of Africanized honey bees.” I still feel regrets about dropping out of Rouge Roubaix after getting hit by a car.

So, that’s it. The highlight of my day was watching Poolboy Matt finish his race in 5 hours, 10 minutes- good enough for 12th overall and 5th in singlespeed. He’s come a long way- doing well at Syllamo’s Revenge is a combination of having the best fitness, skill, and luck.

At least I didn’t get hit by a car.

 

“Infamous” Trail Designation

Some trails are technical and can be hard on people who arrive unprepared, either mechanically, physically, and/or mentally. They aren’t all too uncommon, and they dot the map all over the U.S. Lots of people refer to them as “Epic,” and they often become popular tourist destinations. However, I can only think of two trail systems- Syllamo and Pisgah- that go above and beyond techy/difficult/epic to achieve Infamy. These are trails that can chew up and spit out even the most well-prepared rider and equipment. If you can ride there, you can ride anywhere.

The name “Syllamo” comes as a tribute to a troublesome Creek Indian who inhabited the Sylamore Creek area in the early 1800s. It’s said that he used to steal horses an support raids of settlers’ homesteads, and, while he was eventually shot, it’s rumored that he still haunts his territory to this day. If there’s ever a legend that I’ll believe, it’s this one.

When people come to the Syllamo trails for the first time, they’re often not prepared for what’s there. It’s 50 miles of the most remote, rocky, and beautiful singletrack that I’ve come across in my relatively few years of riding off-road. The terrain includes steep stuff, flowy stuff, and lots of rock gardens. The shale that makes up the rock gardens is unique to the area and is a challenge in and of itself in two ways: 1) It’s sharp as all getout and will rip holes in even the toughest sidewalls, and 2) when it gets wet, it’s quite possibly one of the slickest surfaces known to man. It’s impossible to go to the Syllamo trails and ride “easy,” because it’s a constant challenge in some way, shape, or form.

No matter how strong, skilled, and lucky you are, the Syllamo Trails can crush you and/or your equipment. That’s why I love them more than any trails I’ve ever visited. I get the same vibe from the Pisgah-loving people out East. It’s a mix of respect (for the trail and its ability to destroy) and an undercurrent of the self-confidence gained from successfully riding trails that cause a disproportionately large percentage of the people who visit to swear they’ll never come back.

Even though the trail won out this weekend, there were hints of awesome in my very short time racing. I don’t think it’s possible to be more ready for Trans-Sylvania than I am now.

Weekend at Syllamo & Industry 9 Trail 24 initial review

First- the riding.

It was awesome, as always. I’ve visited a lot of trails in my short-ish time as a mountain biker, but the Syllamo trails are still some of the most beautiful and challenging I’ve encountered. I did my usual Friday afternoon warmup on the green & orange trails- it’s a good start to a weekend there because you can knock out the loops in ~1.5 hours, and they leave from the closest trailhead, which means the drive there is easy. Those particular trails also give you a nice sampling of what Syllamo has to offer- climbs, descents, flowy stuff, overlooks, and, of course, what’re probably the two “best” rock gardens of the entire system.

Somewhere, in the midst of cyclocross training, I improved my ability to negotiate rock gardens. I’m not 100% sure how (improvement in my equipment is a contributing factor for sure, but more on that in a minute), because I was generally glued to a ‘cross bike since Christmas. Friday afternoon, I managed to clean the rock gardens on both the green and orange trails, first time through- something that, until Friday afternoon, I’ve never managed to pull off, even individually. There’s always been at least one dab or do-over every time I’ve ridden them. I went back to the cabin basking in the awesomeness of rock garden domination and enjoyed the sunset with a glass of wine on the back porch.

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Saturday morning, I met up with some people for a quick trailwork party. We cut a corridor through a logged-off section (essentially, that means that if you can stand in the trail with your arms out, you cut anything between your fingertips that’s not a grown-up tree). In the logged areas like this one, it’s lots of lopper and line trimmer work. It’ll pay off big time once spring hits by keeping the angry plants off the trail for an extra month or two before mother nature takes over completely for the summer.

 

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After that, we got on our bikes and went tree hunting. First, to a downed one on the yellow trail. Then, we split up, and Wes and I went to the blue and orange trails. Before splitting, we stopped back at the cars, which were parked at a campsite down a logging road. While we were there, the campers occupying the site drove up. They were two college students who were researching stress hormones in wood frogs. Apparently, that was the Southern end of the frogs’ territory, and they were hoping that the incoming rain (which ended my trip a day early) would bring about successful trapping. We also encountered a group of guys in ATVs who were looking for an ATV-legal path to the yellow trail overlook. They were camping elsewhere for one guy’s bachelor party (too bad all guys can’t be classy enough to go enjoy beer and nature for their bachelor parties).

 

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We removed 3 more trees from the blue and orange trails before finishing up the orange loop and riding back up the forest road to our cars. The trail is nice and clear for now, but the hog damage is getting out of control in some areas. They root along the side of the trail and turn over dirt, rocks, and leaves. The fluffy leaves hide the rocks, making for a dangerous riding condition in some sections where you can’t see what’s hiding under the leaves. Other than a bounty or hunting season, I’m not sure what we can do before they tear everything up.

Enough about the battle with hogs. On to the good stuff…

It’s not often that I’m wrong, but, I have to admit, here and now, that, for the last 3 years, I’ve led many people down the wrong path when it comes to hubs. Before this weekend, if you asked me, “should I get a hub with uber-fast engagement?” I would have answered you with something along the lines of, “you won’t notice a fast-engaging hub as much as you’ll notice if your hub engages slowly.”

Well, I was mistaken.

I didn’t think that a fraction of a second of faster engagement could make a difference in clearing a spot or not clearing it. Actually, it makes a huge difference. Granted, my fitness is great right now, and that helps with the tech-riding success I had this weekend. However, I can’t discount the impact that my new wheels had on my ability to put the fitness to good use. I was amazed over and over again at how much of a blast I had riding them.

Also, I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the I9 stiffness vs. the carbon ENVE wheels I rode last season. No, they’re not as stiff. But, if I put everything I’ve owned on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being American Classic Race wheels and 10 being ENVE carbon, I’d give the Trail 24s about an 8.5 (for further reference, a Stan’s Crest/DT Swiss aerolite/hope would be a “5” in my head).

My totally subjective judgement on stiffness is based on a couple of things- one being how much the wheels make you notice “other” stuff about your bike setup- i.e. you have to pay much more attention to things like suspension and tire pressure adjustments when your wheels are super-stiff. The ENVE wheels beat the hell out of me the first time I rode them in Arkansas because I needed to make major changes in my front fork setup (lighter weight oil in the damper/less air pressure). The I9s made me realize that I needed less air pressure in my tires as well (previously not a problem with the ENVEs since the rim was sooooo narrow; previously not a problem on the AMClassics because they were superflexy). My other (totally subjective, possibly untrue) measure is more of a feeling of flex under load. I’ve noticed that some wheels (both mountain and road) seem to have a weird vibration (almost like a groan) that resonates through the drivetrain when I’m putting down a good bit of power. On a mountain bike, it’s just annoying. On a road bike, it will make me think I have a flat tire.

So, initial reports for the I9 trail 24 wheels- Wow. Just, wow. Sure, it’s just been one weekend, but Syllamo is not a place that suffers lesser equipment lightly. I’m absolutely itching to get some more time on these as the season continues.

Cross Hiatus and Winter Plans

It wasn’t until I was making a fall/winter race schedule out that I was reminded that Master’s Worlds aren’t until the end of January. Last year, the season felt like it went on forever while I was getting ready for The Race at the beginning of January. Also noted while I was compiling my schedule- there’s a plethora of regional mountain bike stuff happening in October.

With the exception of the “undecided” weekend of the 11th, I’ll likely end up not racing cyclocross until November. Here’s what October’s looking like so far:
-13th/14th: Cyclocross in Little Rock or the Six Hours of Herb race near Memphis on the 14th. I can’t decide which I’d rather do. I get kinda bored with long lap races and the amount of prep they take in their execution, but it wouldn’t involve traveling.
-21st: Race to the Canal in Kentucky. I’ve never done a point-to-point race. It looks like a bunch of fun.
-27th: Berryman Trail Epic in Missouri. Never done it before, but it’s always been on the radar. There is always a strong women’s field, so it should be tough in a good way

Now that I’m sitting down and typing this out, it seems to make more sense to race cyclocross the weekend of the 13th- mostly because the recovery period following a weekend of racing cyclocross is much shorter than racing the hell out of a 6 hour race. The last thing I’d want is to line up for the final weekend and feel like I’d rather be at home in bed.

Also on the mountain bike horizon: The Eagle Rock Loop. A long time ago (in a galaxy far away, no less), I ran the Athens-Big Fork trail marathon. It is, to this day, still one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. I remember thinking afterward how impossible the trail seemed for a mountain bike (at the time, I hadn’t ever really ridden a bike, though). Now, Todd “Antique Gun Show” Henne and I are in the “yeah, that sounds cool” phase of planning an adventure that includes riding the A-BF trail as part of a 27 mile loop. It should be almost impossible, but not quite.

 

Also a goal this winter? Help the Syllamo trails. I’m feeling compelled to get in touch with IMBA and see what can be done in the winter to help the poor drainage and overgrowth that plagues much of the trail as it ages. Busy times ahead.

Day 12- to Breckenridge

Ryan and I were up early to put everything in the car, drink lots of coffee, and get to the airport around 7:30. It was time to say goodbye to the Tetons and travel across the vast high desert/plain/whatever you call it to the real elevation. Sometimes, I get bored and take random out the window and self portrait photos…

 

Once I was in Breck, I had just enough time to unpack at the condo and get in a short ride on some “neighborhood” trail and (of course) the pump track. Even after hours in the car, my legs were still feeling great. I was cut a little short by rain, though that’s probably a good thing since I’ve vowed to eat most meals in my condo. So, I needed to get back and go to the grocery store for provisions. What I’ve realized so far is that being a mountain tourist town, groceries here are stupid expensive. I’m not sure that it’s going to cost any less to not eat out, but at least it’s a bit healthier since I won’t be tempted by some of the more delicious things like french fries and pie.